Miss Hanging with People? Here are a Few Ways to Hold a Virtual Event.

We get it…because we’re all in the same boat here. You love your family and even like them most of the time, but if you’re like us, you’re starting to get a little stir crazy not being able to hang out with your friends.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, and even though we must social distance, quarantine, and become literal home hermits to flatten the curve, there’s no reason we can’t hangout virtually. With that in mind, we thought we’d compile a list of a few ways for you to hold a virtual event with your squad. We’re sure you’ve heard of most of these, but who knows? Hopefully, this list will provide you some insight and help you cope.

Zoom

What is it?Zoom Meetings is a popular cloud-based video conferencing application, used primarily by businesses to host remote meetings, but you can use it for personal reasons as well. The basic version is completely free of charge and allows for 1 to 1 meetings up to 40 minutes long, and even allows some meetings of up to 100 people at a time. You can access Zoom on your computer or through mobile apps. Premium plans begin at $14.99 per month.

Google Hangouts

What is it? Google Hangoutsis a unified communications service that allows members to initiate and participate in text, voice or video chats, either one-on-one or in a group. Hangouts are built into Google+ and Gmail. The mobile Hangouts apps are available for iOS and Android devices. Hangouts is a free service offered by Google.

Skype

What is it? If you’re not familiar with Skype, you’re probably going to have a hard time with any of the suggestions on our list, so you may just want to make a call instead. That being said, Skype is a software that is already used by millions of individuals and businesses use to make free video and voice one-to-one and group calls. You can also send instant messages and share files with other people, and use it on whatever device works best for you – on your mobile, computer or tablet.

Facebook Live Video

What is it? Facebook Live is a feature on the Facebook social media network that uses the camera on a computer or mobile device to broadcast real-time video on your Facebook timeline. It is free to use. Live broadcasters can decide can see their video and engage their friends, audience, and/or followers. Unlike the other apps and programs on our list, you are limited in that you are the only one being shown on video. People watching you, however, can post real time comments on the stream. This is great if you like to dominate the conversation.

While there are several other apps and software sites out there that allow you to stay connected, we chose these for their ease of use, because they won’t cost you a dime, and because they’ve been proven reliable. So, get out there…virtually…and catch up with your friends, hangout, zoom in, and beat those quarantine blues.